January Randoms

I absolutely love when these three play together. And not just because I get a few minutes to do stuff. It's really sweet to see their relationships developing as they get older...and some day, the playing won't end with crying or tattling, right?

We're at Target so much, Miles made himself at home.

She is all about accessories these days.

The shaving kit Miles got for Christmas was a hit with all three of them.

Paige's new BFF - the duck at Grandma Audie's.

Brooke's reading and writing are really coming along, which is also fun to see. For instance, we get notes from upstairs almost every night. This one was telling us that she wasn't sleepy.

Winter = play time in the basement. Matt was torturing rapping "Regulate" to Brooke on her karaoke machine.

Miles and Paige were "fixing" his horse with his tools.

Matt loves selfies.

She was so excited to have me put her hair up in the towel. She looks way too old for my liking here.

Happy January!

Weekend O' Fun

Last weekend, we were trying to figure out a time to see Will and Jamie and we both happened to be going out to dinner on Friday, so we used the opportunity to meet up. The kids were excited to see them. (Please disregard the butter knife in Paige's hand. It's such a cute picture otherwise!)

We strolled down to ice cream after dinner. Because, why not?

The next day, after dentist appointments (no cavities!) and My Gym, we headed to Bloomington to meet up with my parents.

When the kids found out that we were going to Chuck E. Cheese, you would have thought we were taking them to Disney World. It was fun to see their excitement.

Despite no nap, even this one had some fun.

Brooke is at the age where she's starting to get the whole ticket incentive, and it's actually kind of fun to see her figure out which games give the most tickets. You know a game is good if she does it again despite not getting tickets.

We were all happy to see my parents. Thanks for making the drive! We love you!

Indoor Fun and Activities

Sorry for the delay in my posts lately. I'm blaming it on a combination of sickness, holiday hangover, home improvement gone awry, and Netflix - more specifically, "Making a Murderer." At any rate, I'm hoping to get caught up and stay caught up now. Also, sorry for the sub-par pictures in this post.

While this winter hasn't been brutally cold or snowy, it is still January. In Chicago. We spent one of Brooke's recent days off at The Ball Factory.

We've also been to our fair share of indoor playgrounds (most likely the cause of the sickness). Paige likes to go up in them now and these two usually guard her diligently.

Miles started Soccer Shots last week. He was really excited about it and as soon as it was done, asked when he could come back. Quite a different story from Brooke, who after a few times in the class declared that soccer, "isn't her thing."

Paige is still doing My Gym, too. She standing up a lot more and we got a legitimate step out of her during PT last week. We're going to get this girl walking by the time we can go back out to playgrounds!

Florida 2016

Our trip to Florida started off a little rocky this year, with Miles and Paige waking up with pink eye the day after Christmas - and the day before we were supposed to leave. I got them into the doctor that morning and the doctor said that after 24 hours on the drops, they should be good to fly. Paige's cleared up pretty quickly, but Miles looked rough, so we had him wear a hat in the airport. I think it might have actually drawn more attention to him. At any rate, we made it.

Brooke sat in a row with Mike, Jane and Bri. She's at a nice stage to travel with.

Because flights were so pricey, we flew into Tampa and had a 2 hour drive once we landed. We still made it to Bonita with a little time to head to the pool.

The next morning, Matt played golf and the kids and I got groceries and other things that we forgot at Target. That night, we went out to dinner.

Our family stayed at a different condo this year, so we'd go to Matt's parents before and after dinner most nights. The kids were usually slap-happy by this time, which made things more entertaining.

We had a lot of fun at the pool several days.

Mia Petunia made another appearance and we remembered how hard she is to ride.

We also spent a couple of mornings at the beach.

Cousin time!

This little lady LOVED the waves. She would scoot up to them (looking like a crab, mind you), and let them knock her over. There were several times I thought she'd sit up crying, but she was cracking up every time.

The same day that we went to the beach with Mike and Jane, Brooke went with everyone else on an air boat tour. She described it as being like a roller coaster, so needless to say she liked it.

That night, we walked to Matt's parents for dinner. Miles ran the first quarter mile or so.

We had fun hanging out before dinner.

...and after.

The next night, we went out to dinner again, this time to a new place on the water in Naples.

The next day was New Year's Eve (I think - my order of events is a little fuzzy this far out). Two of our friends happened to also be in the area the same we as us, so the three families rented a pontoon boat.

Two of Brooke's classmates and friends, Logan and Maggie, we there.

We stopped at a little inlet (maybe that's what's it's called?) where the kids were able to go in the water and look along the shore for shells.

Paige and Teegan were zonked by the time we headed back.

Dolphin watching!

That night, we did our annual sibling sunset cruise, then got takeout and headed back to our condo to hang out.

The kids and I had some quiet mornings in our condo while Matt golfed.

Brooke, Debbie and I went to Best of Everything. Brooke surprised me buy buying me a pair of earrings. What a sweetie!

We also had our annual sunset photo shoot at the beach.

Grandkids.

The girls.

The boys.

The kids.

Miles was pretty cashed out at this point (he kept asking incredulously, "More pictures?!?"), so I took a couple shots of my girls.

He was happy when it came to toasting time, though.

After the sun went down, he led us in a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bells" for about 10 minutes. He and Brooke also danced interpretively.

Aunt Jamie's always a good sport.

Heading back.

We went to the beach again the next day, this time with Brooke.

Inspired by another sand sculpture we walked past, Brooke decided to make her own mermaid.

Did I mention that this girl LOVES the beach?

We had to stop at Royal Scoop on our way back, of course.

That night, Will and Jamie left and we went out to dinner at another new place. The girls had fun by the fire pit.

Of course, getting a decent picture of the two of them was basically impossible.

One afternoon, Matt took Miles and Brooke to a golf clinic.

We played our fair share of Magformers.

We also found a cool new playground. The kids and I spent a while exploring the trails nearby.

Our last night out to dinner, at Matt's favorite restaurant, AZN.

The day we left was a little chilly, so we decided to go to mini-golf.

Brooke got a hole in one, and both big kids were entertained the whole time.

Paige was excited about her maraca that she got as a prize.

It warmed up that afternoon, so we made one last trip to the pool. Brooke was excited to take her book and "relax." (It's a chapter book that she can't yet read by herself, but I guess she wanted to look the part.)

One last dip.

It was another great trip! Until next time, Florida!